After the death of 91-year-old Italian composer Ennio Morricone musicologists once again I wonder how the soundtrack affects the film and whether the score is to change the audience’s impression of the picture. In history many examples of creative unity Directors and composers, but only a few songs are able to live outside the screen. No matter whether it’s a Conservatory, a rock concert or a techno rave.
Ringing the rhythm of the film “the Good, the bad and the ugly” (1966), pastoral atmosphere of “Days of heaven” (1978), an icy tension in “Something” (1982), the elegiac beauty of “Once in America” (1984) – this is an incomplete list of paintings, the music for which was written by Italian Maestro Ennio Morricone. He’s not just raised us on classic movies and gave them independent life.
In the book 2019 the composer said that “most of the time people perceive the music in the film as a subliminal suggestion. In other words, she manages to show what is not visible is to work against dialogue, or even more to tell the story that the images do not open”. How the soundtrack makes the film great, maybe the eternal question. But one thing is certain – Morricone has left a timeless legacy in a variety of genres.
a British composer, playwright and broadcaster Neil Brand researched the technique and the power of movie soundtracks for most of his career. “I went to the movies and watched a massive blockbuster with extraordinary music. If it is still ticked in my mind when I returned home, sat down at the piano and tried desperately to repeat it, to learn how the chords. Great music somehow retains her magic even when exposed her familiar tunes,” he recalls.
Morricone – a vivid example of how music can be subtle and at the same time, unpredictable and playful. His diverse topics include an intensely poignant melody in “One day in the Wild West” (1968), or a uncompromising romantic play Chi Mai in 1971, which later was used in five films, including “the Professional” with Jean-Paul Belmondo. And Morricone has never lost the feeling pop musci. Throughout his career he has worked with Italian artists from the Mines and Zuccaro to the Pet Shop Boys.
In a 2008 interview recorded for BBC Radio 4, the Maestro said, “As a composer I’m looking for the main story in the film. Such that it is impossible to tell through the images or dialogue”. According to Neil Brand, such films as “Once in the West” and “Once in America” was a pragmatic, rigorous approach both to the characters and to the plot. But the music Morricone gave them incredible emotional depth. In the film “a fistful of dollars” (1964), Clint Eastwood’s only about 25 rows. But the music that plays between the shootings Eastwood forever sapom��GSI audience. Moreover, it will build the cowboy in the Pantheon of great heroes of all time.
Some of the iconic paintings will not be included in the world hall of fame without mutual understanding between Director and composer. For example, the classic creative partnership of Alfred Hitchcock and Bernard Hermann (from “Psycho,” “Vertigo” and “North by Northwest” to a high-pitched electronic sound in “Bird”) or composer Nino Rota and Italian heavyweights Federico Fellini, Luchino Visconti, and Francis Ford Coppola, for whom he wrote the music for “the Godfather”.
Ennio Morricone, as you know, worked closely with Sergio Leone, which often removed or expanded scenes based on the music of Morricone and Giuseppe Tornatore. Moreover, he wrote the Oscar-winning soundtrack to “Disgusting eight” Quentin Tarantino, although the trust relationship in tandem, did not work. But the Director never once called myself a fan of Morricone
Neil Brand says that it is not necessary to take the heavy artillery of the cinema, to enjoy the magnificent soundtracks. Full of such examples and in cartoons. As children, we often make their first musical discoveries through the movie. Then carry these soundtracks through life. Take, for example, the music of Hans Zimmer for “Kung fu Panda”.
According to the Brand, modern family films often show exciting and adventurous score. “Listen to the music John Powell for the cartoon “How to train your dragon” or the work of Randy Newman on the soundtrack to “toy Story”. In this genre so much sincere enthusiasm and joy that I loved to go to the movies with the kids.”
Great film music can create idols – extraordinary Oscar-winning score by the Icelandic composer Hildur Gudnadottir for “the Joker” (2019) – and undermine the genres – as poignant and powerful Symphony Nicholas Britell for “Moonlight” (2016). Ennio Morricone did not get tired to experiment. Now his immortal works sound not only in movie but also for hard rock concerts Metallica that uses “The Ecstasy of Gold” from the film “the Good, the bad and the ugly” as an introduction, and techno raves, when about 6 in the morning on a sweaty dancefloor sweeps the theme from “the Mission”. Unlikely, the Maestro himself foresaw this. But it proves one thing – the greatest music for the films unconventional. And it really strikes the listener where he least expects it.
